Mr Rubin’s departure from Android comes five months after Apple’s Software Chief, Scott Forstall, left the iPhone maker in its biggest management reshuffle in years. In November, Steve Sinofsky, Microsoft’s Head of Windows, abruptly left after a radical, mobile-centric redesign of the operating system was launched.

As for his replacement, Page says that Sundar Pichai will be taking charge of the Android team. You may know Pichai as Senior Vice President of Chrome, Chrome OS and apps. Pichai will still manage Chrome while taking on his new duties as Android lead.

It will be interesting to see what Pichai does with Android. Some of his work with Chrome might make its way into Android and vice versa. Both have a lot to gain from each other so it will be exciting to see what the future holds for both Android and Chrome. The Google I/O 2013 conference is two months away. We might see an introduction or possibly Pichai will outline new goals for the Android ecosystem. The shake-up in Android leadership also brings up a lot of questions. Some industry observers believe Pichai’s new responsibilities could point to the merger of Chrome and Android, potentially bridging the divide between the computer and smartphones and tablets.

That’s a daunting task. Most outsiders believe Chrome and Android businesses have competed against each other, said Avi Greengart, who covers Google for research firm Current Analysis. The platforms are based on different visions for the future of computing: universal HTML 5 applications in the cloud for Chrome versus optimized native applications installed in the device for Android. Pichai’s biggest challenge will be juggling the two worlds and deciding whether they should collide.